1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image transmission device that authenticates a user, an operations management method, and a computer-readable medium having an operations management program embodied therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been image transmission devices having a function for transmitting images scanned by a scanner part or image data loaded in a memory.
As this type of image transmission device becomes more sophisticated, information registered in the devices by users such as address book data and document data is increasing. Such information registered by users often includes strictly-confidential information such as personal information, in-house information and customer information. Therefore, security measures for protecting the registered information are becoming important.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-5408 discloses a device with security features. The device authenticates users trying to use an image forming application installed therein by referring to prestored information.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-276018 also discloses a device with security features. The device includes fingerprint reading means for reading fingerprint information, fingerprint registering means for registering the read fingerprint information, authenticating means for comparing preregistered fingerprint information with the fingerprint information read by the fingerprint reading means to authenticate a user, and operation restricting means for restricting operations of an image forming device according to a comparison result.
However, theses features presented in the above publications are designed for limiting operations available to users by authenticating the users according to specific methods, and are not security measures against customer engineers (maintenance operators) who handle device maintenance and repairs.
Maintenance operators need to be permitted to perform at least certain operations for device inspection and maintenance. For example, image data transmission in a transmission test may need to be allowed.
In many cases, however, device maintenance and repairs are outsourced to external contractors such as manufactures and related companies of the manufactures. Considering the recent awareness of the importance of security measures for image transmission devices, it is necessary to prevent leaks of confidential information caused by maintenance operators while permitting the maintenance operators to conduct necessary operations.